Paradigm
by UntoldStories113
Summary: It's not the things that happen. It's the way we take them. (Post-MI, spoilers for both Monsters Inc and Monsters University)


**Timeline note:** Set a few years after Monsters Inc.

* * *

He was not sure why this was better. Except for the actual method, there was no fathomable difference between Scaring and Comedy. While the latter yielded more energy from a single child, it also demanded more buildup and precision. If a kid was afraid of you, it would inevitably scream when it saw you, but if it found you funny, that did not necessarily mean it would laugh at you at every visit. After all, Boo had been the same way, right?

It was the togetherness, Mike decided. They were not going _against_ the children any longer. They were working _with_ them. No Scarer would ever have had the privilege of making those kids happy - no Scarer would even have _cared_ about making human kids happy. And he knew how much those that were still Scarers missed out on each day - he could see it all in the merriment on little Shelly's face, the way she clapped her tiny hands at everything he did, be it grimacing, making funny sounds, or knocking himself to the floor with something.

He really loved his job. While not exactly a Scarer, he did get to work out in the field, going to kids' rooms and collecting energy for Monstropolis. Comedy was the closest thing he could get to what he had always been dreaming about. It was a skill he had never learned, and yet one he excelled at. Sure, he was a little disappointed that he could not actually talk to the kids, but it was not as if that would have been different with Scaring, and this was what he did best.

Well, no, it was not. Had anyone tried to make him realize his own style - and a _lot_ of people had tried that by now, considering how Comedy was practically considered a form of science nowadays - then he would have told them that he prided himself in his witty nature most of all. However, it had been decided that kids who could not talk yet were safer so they would not expose the monster world to their parents; human adults tended to write off kids' stories of monsters in their closets as an over-active imagination, but tales of quirky, little creatures showing up and telling jokes ran a much higher risk of causing someone to come and investigate. Yet, he could see the joy in the kids' eyes at his non-verbal antics and had decided, long ago, that this was worth it.

Shelly, just like all the other kids, was too young to truly appreciate his talent, but he was not a one-trick pony. He had adapted to the changes that had been made to the initial system. In fact, he had been the one to _suggest_ to Sulley that younger children were safer, and his friend had seen the reason in his arguments.

With a final silly face and a little, flourishy bow, he gathered his tools and made his exit, facing the girl until the very last moment. Much like Scaring, Comedy was all about presence.

Even when he had closed the door behind himself, he knew she was still laughing, could easily see it in the way the canister kept steadily filling up until it gave that little ping which indicated that no more energy would fit. Satisfied with the result, he went over to his desk to pick up Shelly's file, intending to be a good employee for once and mark down the necessary information right away.

"Hey, Mike, you're on a _roll_!"

Grinning, Mike turned around to the one who had spoken. "If there's anyone on a 'roll', here, Art, I'd say that would be you!"

Now Art turned fully away from his desk to blink at him for a few moments. Wit had never been _his_ strong point, but he did not need it; his randomness eventually won over even the moodiest of children.

A few seconds passed and then Art was laughing. "Yeah, you got it, man! Turner's up next, and he totally adores the cartwheels!"

Mike could not help but smile. "Who doesn't?" Absently throwing Shelly's file onto his desk, he went to get one of the little carts before wheeling it over to the Door Station. He did not mind doing the assistant work himself - after all, most of Monsters Inc's former Scaring assistants had gone on to become Comedians, so there was not exactly anyone left to do the job. And the only difference to back then was the canisters' size. But that was his own fault, too, for redesigning the things so that they could handle the greater energy input produced by Comedy. Who would have guessed that those Can Design classes would come in handy one day after all?

When he had neatly placed the canister onto one of the trolleys and brought another one to attach to his station, Art was on his way to the next kid; Turner, if Mike had heard that correctly. "Don't forget the paperwork!" his friend called over good-naturedly before disappearing into the door.

The file! He actually _had_ forgotten! Though being reminded of concentration slip-ups by Art of all people was a bit humiliating.

Grumbling to himself, he picked up Shelly's file again to record the amount of energy gathered and the duration of his stay, then grabbed the next one. This was not one of his kids - it actually belonged to Frank's schedule, but his colleague had called in sick and someone had to be his replacement. They could not just change the schedule or miss out on all the energy possibly produced by an absent Comedian's kids, after all.

Actually, though, Mike did not like being replacement. Being replacement for someone always yielded worse results than those of the original person. The kids were always sad not to see "their" monsters, which was kind of a mood dampener by itself, not to mention they might get scared by an unfamiliar monster - unlikely as it might be in Mike's case. While Scream was still energy, it was near impossible to make a child laugh after it had screamed at you, and even the original monster would have trouble eliciting laughter on subsequent visits.

But Mike had been in this room a few times before and it had been fine. Timmy was a good kid.

However, his file had _still_ not been properly updated. Faintly, he wondered how Frank could even work like that. The house layout was mediocre at best, the few sentences on the boy's interests downright poor, the information about his parents missing completely.

What were the Scouts doing, these days? Just because the ones gathering energy were working with the kids now rather than against them, that still did not mean the parents wanted monsters in their offsprings' room any more than before. Just like Scaring, Comedy was _still_ very dependent on security!

Shaking his head at the non-information, he closed the file and placed it back onto his desk, then took the card key and went over to call the door. Just as it had come through the hole in the wall, he saw something else. A bright, orange tentacle sneaking its way onto the keypad of his Door Station, trying to push one of the buttons.

With a sigh, he lightly batted the appendage away. "Guys," he deadpanned, "that _was_ funny the first time, but by now, it's just plain ridiculous!"

"Told ya!" he heard Terry's voice from behind him and, making sure the door was properly secured in the station, turned around to the twins.

"If I was a human kid," he informed them with a smug grin, "I think I'd be creeped out by this instead of amused."

"You're not supposed to _see_ the tentacle!" Terri explained loudly, trying to cross his arms with Terry's, but his brother would not comply, so it looked a bit ridiculous.

"Terri's trying a new sort of magic trick!" Terry elaborated, smirking as well. "With mixed results."

"Look, we _need_ new tricks!" Terri explained to his brother what could not be a revelation to him. "Tamara seems so _bored_ lately!"

"You two do whatever magic tricks you want to!" Mike laughed while placing the card back on his desk, then approached the door. "Just don't practice them on me!"

And before either twin had the chance to respond, he left for the other world, swiftly closing the door behind him. After a moment, his eye had adjusted to the new light level, so he made his way over to the bed.

He had not brought any tools this time, but there was no need. Timmy owned so many toys that there was always something Mike could pretend to hurt himself with, and he knew the boy found that hilarious. Of course, in this case, with this kid, that was no match for Frank's incredible feats of balancing all sorts of things, but then, that was _exactly_ why there were different types of Comedians, after all.

"Hello, kid!" he called, low enough so that it would not leave the room, but loud enough to wake the boy. And predictably, he did wake up almost immediately and turned on the lamp on his nightstand. The disappointment on his face hurt a bit, as did his frantic examination of the room, probably in the reasoning that Frank must be hiding somewhere, but then, Timmy seemed to just accept it, and pointed to his toy toolbox in anticipation.

Mike smirked to himself while going to comply with the unspoken request, but then deliberately stepped onto a toy car and landed face-first on the carpeted floor. Already, Timmy was shrieking with laughter.

He had not told his colleagues about using the kids' stuff for his routines. After all, no one was supposed to know human children were not toxic. He and Sulley had not even told the guys, although it was quite exhausting to keep up the charade. But then, Roz had made it very clear that she did not want that knowledge out in the open.

Secretly, Mike had started to suspect that the CDA was not trying to protect the monsters from the kids at all. It must actually be the other way round. After all, human children were _scared_ of monsters - and if the general public ever found out that the kids were not harmful to them, then what would stop them from crossing over to the human world and exploiting the children to the best of their ability? From exploiting these adorable, little creatures for their own gain? If he judged by what Randall had…

_No, don't think about Randall._

But too late. Of course the stray thought had needed only a moment to take complete hold of his thought processes. Absently going through his routines, mildly noting the boy's near-hysterical giggling, he could not help but wonder about the same thing for the umpteenth time. Where _was_ Randall? Why had he not found another door yet? It could not have been _that_ hard! There was _always_ one nearby!

He needed to stop thinking about this. He needed to stop feeling guilty about it. After all, he and Sulley had only been trying to save Boo's life, and as Randall had been the one to _threaten_ her, of course they had needed him out of the way long enough to send her back! But deep down, he was sure something had happened. Somehow, he was convinced his former best friend was dead.

How could that have happened? Randall had been the one to keep up the animosity! Mike had _never_ wanted him _dead_!

Shaking his head, he tried concentrating on Timmy again. Maybe he was being negative. Maybe he just needed to wait long enough. And as, right now, this was about the _only_ regret in his entire life, he was reasonably sure that he would find the strength to handle this. Maybe not today, but… yeah, he could do this. Somehow.

Timmy was as good as shrieking right now, so it would probably be a good idea to get out of the room before the parents showed up. However many parents there _were_, he mentally added, soundlessly grumbling at the Scouts yet again.

So he bid the boy farewell and even remembered to drop the toys before leaving. The last thing he needed was a 23-19 that no one but him knew would be completely unnecessary. But he did briefly amuse himself with the thought of the CDA agents trying to figure out where on his body to attach the Elizabethan Collar.

The canister was not entirely full when he got back to his own world, but that was okay. It happened for almost every replacement kid. He was just about to dislodge it when he was interrupted.

"Not quite up to your usual standards, is it?"

Grinning, he turned around to face his best friend. "I'd like to remind you that the canisters _you_ filled were several times smaller than these, big guy."

Sulley was grinning right back. "And I'd like to remind _you_ that _I_ had to do it using Scream!"

Shaking his head in silent laughter, Mike went about exchanging canisters. "So what brings the big boss all the way down to the lowly level of his Comedians?"

The obligatory banter taken care of, he was sure Sulley would get down to business again, and his friend did not disappoint his expectations. "Well, Johnny just gave a call. He wants to know if you can find the time for another Stealth seminar the day after tomorrow."

At once, the statement caused several emotions to start warring inside of him. In the end, as this was not the first time it had happened, annoyance won out over pride. "_Why_ can't that guy _ever_ call in advance?"

Sulley smirked at him. "He likes messing with you."

Mike shot him a half-lidded look. "You think so? Personally, I think it's his way of making inner peace with having to ask for _my_ help." Suddenly moody, he locked the next canister into the station with a bit more force than was necessary, then slashed Jeremy's card through the slit in exasperation.

Sulley shrugged. "Yeah, well, there's no getting around it if he wants his employees to have the best trainer he can get them." Then his friend gave him a playful shove. "C'mon, cheer up, that means you're gonna see Don and Squishy!"

"As if Squishy needs Stealth lessons," Mike quipped, but the thought did cheer him up. For living in the same city, he and those two were certainly bad at staying in touch. Things would be so much better if they had just managed to adapt to Comedy, but of course, he could see that Scaring was the better option for them; Comedy required a special kind of self-confidence which neither of them possessed. Well, at least they were working at Fear Co; Scream Ind was even farther away, more or less on the other end of the city.

"So what should I tell Johnny?" Sulley finally asked, still smirking at his indignation.

"Tell him he's a douche," Mike grumbled, putting the key card back into the file. "And yeah, I'll squeeze it in somehow."

Sulley chuckled. "Great, then I'll tell Celia to make an appointment for you. And, Art, I need to talk to you, too!" he added when their friend reentered their world, before going to take a pen from Mike's desk for a quick note on his clipboard.

Satisfied that Sulley would be staying on their floor for a while - occasional teasing always made the work seem even nicer - Mike entered the next door.

Jeremy was one of his own kids - one of his favorite ones, actually. And like with Timmy, there was no need to bring stuff to these visits; his bedroom floor was always so covered in junk that it put even the most difficult simulator to shame. Had Mike still been afraid of toxicity, he doubted he would have liked Jeremy so much.

He was initially alarmed by the unusually high light level, but the shock passed quickly. It was just that the boy was already awake when he entered, sitting upright in the bed and apparently waiting for him. Sometimes, Mike was still amazed at how perceptive some of these children were, especially considering the fact that he had considered them mindless, dangerous, little abominations until not so long ago.

Jeremy was a silly faces type of kid. Even the most ludicrous grimaces made him laugh out loud in mirth, so there was not quite so much need for self-mutilation here. Which was good, as that approach was sort of taxing; if Mike had had to do that every time he entered a door, he might have lost steam halfway through his regular work day.

He caught himself mentally going over the seminar's schedule and forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand. He would have to work an hour or so longer today if he wanted to be prepared, but it was not as if he had never done any teaching before.

Sometimes, it amazed him how diverse his job had gotten over the years. Between seminars, writing papers, and the occasional Can Design assignment, he was actually a little surprised at how he managed to still have the highest Comedy score in the entire company. Curiously, though, now that he finally, _finally_ had what he had always dreamed of – being the best in his field – he found it did not mean anything to him. Sure, it felt great to be admired, to finally be accepted for who he was, but he would actually have settled for being "just good," not "the best." He found no joy in besting others. Of course, especially in light of his initial rivalry with Sulley, that thought felt really strange even to himself, but he supposed that was maturity or some obscure stuff like that.

Apparently, Jeremy was having a blast watching his antics. He kept giggling and cheering and clapping merrily as if he had never seen anything funnier.

Mike smiled. He really liked the little guy. Somehow, he reminded him of Boo. Especially when his voice squeaked on particularly high-pitched laughs. Or when he used one of the few words he could say, such as "more," "again" and "teddy." It had taken Mike a while to realize that that last one, curiously enough, actually referred to him.

Damn, he really loved these kids.

A noise from the hallway made him jump, and next he knew, the light had gone on as well. "Jemy, _please_ go to sleep already!" A woman's voice. Probably Jeremy's mother.

Mike swore, temporarily forgetting about the kid. The woman was too close. He needed to get out of here, now.

Whirling around, he dashed for the exit, but in his haste, his feet got tangled up in something lying around on the floor. He went down, smashing face-first into a congregation of action figures.

Swearing again, he reached back to untangle his feet from what turned out to be a garland of some sort. It had firmly lodged itself around his legs, though, tied up in several little knots.

Jeremy was shrieking in joy. He must think this part of the performance.

Her steps were coming closer now. Too close. Mike frantically fumbled with the knots, but his progress was too slow, and he had to watch helplessly as the door opened and the woman came in.

Dear heavens, human adults were _tall_.

She turned to the bed, about to speak to her son, but then did a double take when she sensed something else in the room with them, and, finally, she turned to stare straight at Mike.

There was a fleeting moment of eye contact.

Mike gave a strangled squeak and further entangled himself from the garland as quickly as he could.

"What the…" the woman mumbled, still too stunned for a proper reaction.

With a last pull, the material gave way. Free at last, Mike hastily got to his feet and turned around. Now that he could move, he wasted no time making a break for the window. He could not go back. Protocol was _very_ clear on this kind of thing. He had to get out of the house, _immediately_, and hope to make a return from a different door once he had shaken off the woman.

"Wait!" she demanded, but he had no intention of complying.

Under no circumstances could she see him enter the closet. He could only hope that someone was listening on the other side and would have the sense to cut the power to the portal.

"Wait! Don't go!"

Ignoring her, he fumbled with the handle. How the heck did this thing work?

„_You look funny_!"

He froze. He did not even know why at first. He had to wait a few moments for his brain to kick back in, but by then, his gut feeling had already told him the truth.

He knew her.

Turning around slowly, he stared at her, wide-eyed and rigid. Jeremy was staring at both of them. The woman, however, had realization written all over her face.

"So it really _is_ you," she said quietly. "I thought I'd dreamed you up."

Mike still could not speak. This was her. It had to be. He had never seen human adults before, but… well, okay, he had, but not up close. But this could be, right? He thought he sort of recognized her features and the way her blond fringe leaned a little sideways.

The woman knelt down now, beckoning to him as if he was an animal. "Come here. I'm not gonna do anything to you."

Mike raised half his brow in return. Before he had consciously realized that it was a bad idea, he was already responding. "Aren't you afraid I'm gonna do something to _you_?"

She seemed surprised that they were speaking the same language, or maybe that he was speaking at all, but she did not comment. "Why would I? Jemy's been drawing pictures of a small creature and made it clear he's friends with the little guy. And, now that I think about it, those pictures _did_ look familiar… And you didn't do anything to me either, back then. Why would I be afraid of you?"

Mike groaned. "You know, I _was_ trying to scare you…"

And now she smiled. "Someone as cute as you?"

Mike actually felt himself smiling back, but then he remembered the situation. "Look, I gotta go…" he insisted, about to turn around to the window once more.

"_No_!" she burst out at once. "Don't go, please! Please, just… don't."

Mike furrowed his brow in confusion. What was with her? "I have to. They're waiting for me on the other side." Then he bit his lip, realizing that he had said too much.

But her answer surprised him. "Your friend, right? The big, blue one?"

How could she know about Sulley? But then he remembered that the kids must have seen him escape the cabin as well; according to Sulley, the police had pointed their flashlights at him.

"Is he okay?" she continued, and she actually sounded genuinely concerned. "The police said they'd had a run-in with him…? They didn't do anything to him, right?"

"Sulley's fine." Then he mentally smacked himself – he had given her information _again_. "Look, I really need to go, I shouldn't even be talking to you…" After a moment's contemplation, he decided that she knew too much anyway. "See, my people are really concerned about staying hidden from humans and stuff, and… if anyone finds out about these doors, it's gonna be a real mess…"

Information _again_. He needed to stop talking as soon as possible. He looked up at her again. "You seem to, well, like me. Can I count on you to keep quiet about this?"

Her answer was to smile again. "Oh, I did tell them about you, back then. But other than the kids who'd seen you, no one believed me. I seriously doubt that's changed now."

Mike could not help cracking a smile at that. He would just have to take that as a yes. "I see. Well, thanks, then." And with those words, he carefully backed away from the window to approach the closet door again. And now that he thought about it, that could not really surprise her. She had seen him approach the camp's closet door as well.

Now she spoke again. "Next time you play with Jemy, come and get me from the other room, will you?"

Something about that statement made him halt. There was such sincerity in her voice… He was touched, genuinely touched, and yet, he shook his head, glancing over his shoulder against his own better judgment. "There won't be a next time."

Immediately, she seemed panicked. "I _told_ you, I'm not gonna tell anyone, I promise!"

"It's not that…" Mike elaborated, fully turning around again, "just… I've been found out. I need to declare this door dead." He could see that she wanted to say something again, but he continued before she got the chance. "Look, even if _you_ two won't say anything, this could still get out of hand quickly. For starters, Jeremy here must have a father, and _he_ doesn't know me. For all I know, he's probably gonna send the pest-control after me…"

"Actually, I'm a single mother," she stated calmly.

He blinked. Had that been in the file? He could not remember. "Well, anyway, they're probably getting worried by now. I… I gotta go. I'm sorry. I really am." He looked at the kid as well. "Sorry, Jeremy. I'm gonna miss you."

The boy seemed on the verge of tears. He must have understood what was going on. The woman seemed disappointed, too, but at least she did not push anymore.

Again, Mike turned to leave, and already had his hand on the doorknob when she seemed to have found her voice again.

"You know… you've been my imaginary friend for years."

To his own surprise, he felt himself choke up a little at the words. Her imaginary friend. They had only met once in their lives, and yet he _meant_ something to her.

Letting go of the door, he turned to face her again, taking in her full appearance. "Can I have your name?"

She smirked. "If I get yours."

He smiled at her. Fair enough. "It's Mike."

She blinked. "I must admit, I expected something less… normal. Anyway, nice to meet you, Mike, I'm Louise."

Louise. Now he finally knew the other party to that fateful encounter. He gave a slow nod. "Goodbye, Louise," he whispered.

Before he could change his mind yet another time, he opened the door, went through, and quickly closed it and cut the power so that the two did not get a chance to see what was on the other side. And then, he leaned against it, breathing heavily, his forehead resting against the wood.

"Mike, there you are!" That was Sulley's voice. "Thank goodness, where've you been? We thought you'd gotten caught! You were gone for so long and the energy meter didn't change and we thought…"

How long had it been? He had completely lost track of the time. Now that he thought about it, he was lucky the power had still been on.

Turning around, he found himself confronted with a sea of agitated faces. Sulley was right there in front of him, Art and the twins further in the back, several others around them. It felt a lot like that one day, actually, the one where he had set foot into the human world for the first time in his life and had elicited this very same reaction from all the monsters in the immediate vicinity.

Feeling his knees give way, he allowed himself to slide down the door to sit on the floor in a daze. He was not sure what had just happened, or how he felt about it.

Sulley immediately knelt down in front of him. "Mike? Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."

What an oddly appropriate wording. "Oh, I have. I… met the first kid I ever came across." Well, not exactly the first; he had not paid much attention to the first because he had been busy watching Frightening Frank McCay instead, but at least the first he himself had tried to scare.

Sulley seemed confused. "The blond girl you were talking about? From the camp?" Then he smirked. "Mike, it's been decades, she's not a kid anymore." When Mike did not say anything, realization seemed to dawn on him. "You did meet her, didn't you?"

Mike waved at the door half-heartedly. "Jeremy's mother."

"Oh, my…!" Sulley breathed, before something else seemed to hit him. "And she recognized you?"

"…yeah," Mike whispered.

Sulley stared at him for a moment, before suddenly looking determined. He made to get up, and immediately, Mike knew why, so he quickly reached out to grab his friend's arm. "It's okay! She promised she wouldn't tell on me. She promised. It's just… well, the door's dead, I suppose."

Sulley gave him a strange look at those words. Wordlessly, he stood up to dislodge the door from the station, then lightly touched Mike's shoulder to make him come with him. "Carry on, everyone!" he said loudly, giving a pointed look to Art and the twins for emphasis, and despite their obvious worry, they did as told.

Feeling slightly dizzy, Mike allowed Sulley to lead him off the Laugh Floor and into a currently unused meeting room. His friend set the door down against one of the walls before sitting down at the conference table and motioning for Mike to do the same. "What happened?" he asked softly.

So Mike told him the whole story. "I… I heard Jeremy's mother in the hallway, and on my way out, I tripped on his stuff. So she came in and saw me. I…" It sounded so emotionless when he said it like that. As if this meeting had _not_ been anything special to him. "I tried to make it out the window, but she called after me, and she… she recognized me, and… she said I had been her imaginary friend…" Why had that particular bit of info hit him so hard?

"Are you sure it's her?" Sulley probed, his face almost void of any expression.

Mike gave a nod. "I recognized her, too." And suddenly, he felt his lips forming a wistful smile. "She said I had been her imaginary friend," he repeated. "She really hadn't been afraid of me, not one bit, but in retrospect… I don't think I mind terribly much. Not anymore."

Taking a deep breath, he looked up. "Would you put the door through the shredder for me? Somehow, I don't think I could do it myself."

To his astonishment, Sulley's response was a smile. "Mikey, we're not shredding this door."

Mike stared at him. "Didn't you listen? The door's dead! A kid's mother found me! If we hadn't been so lucky with her being so understanding, this would've been the biggest security breach ever since Boo wandered around in here!"

Sulley's smile intensified. "Funny you should bring up Boo. You really think I'm gonna shred the door to your friend when I'm still keeping the one to mine?"

Mike was still staring. What was Sulley getting at? There was no _way_ that… or was there?

"Look," Sulley continued, apparently sensing his deep-seated confusion, "we'll just keep the door right next to Boo's. And whenever you feel like it, go visit her. It's dangerous, yes, but not really any more dangerous than me visiting Boo. I'm sure this is gonna work out. Just explain to her, you did say she was prepared to keep this quiet."

Mike was silent for a while. He did not exactly understand why he was even considering the possibility, why this should _mean_ anything to him, but he got the feeling that Sulley, at least, was sure about the reason. "You think I should?" he finally asked hesitantly.

Sulley was beaming. "Absolutely!"

* * *

It took him a few days to find both the time and the resolve to return. He wanted to wait for nighttime in her time zone, but needed to go very early in his, before the start of the first shift, so that no one would get a chance to ask questions. Thankfully, he had a bit of experience with that kind of scheduling, as Sulley occasionally took him along to see Boo.

He shivered a little in the chilly morning air on his walk up to the front door. It should be locked at this hour, but his key fit in just about every door in the company, save the portal ones that did not have keys at all, so he got in anyway. As much as he usually tried to avoid that kind of thing, sometimes, being the CEO's best friend did have its advantages.

His steps echoed in the empty entrance hall. When he was all alone in the building, the company always appeared so much larger to him. Due to the nature of their work, he had come to associate the place with constant joy and laughter, so the silence seemed really out of place. It made him feel like an intruder, and the feeling accompanied him on the entire way over to the room with the Scare Simulator.

Of course, it was out of use these days, off limits even, so there would not have been anyone here even during work hours. There had been attempts to construct Laugh Simulators, but the psychology involved was still being researched, and the previous technology had taken decades to perfect, so he doubted anything significant was going to happen in the near future.

What no one knew, though, was that he and Sulley had left the Door Station in this room attached to the system. This was the place from where they always visited Boo, and now it would also become the starting point for his visits to his new friend. Louise, he had to remind himself.

Would she even want him to come? He had basically ignored her pleading and run off anyway, so was there not a definite chance that she might have given up on her imaginary friend for good and moved on?

He had checked the file, and like with so many others, its info on Jeremy's parents was incomplete. It did not say anything about Louise being a single mother; in fact, it did not mention a father at all, whether present or deceased or whatever. That had been an oversight on his part, he knew; he should have properly checked the file before ever entering the room.

The door was right where he had seen Sulley place it - next to Boo's, both covered by a stylishly arranged blanket. Of course, if anyone ever did happen to wander in here, the doors would be found immediately, so he and Sulley would have to think of a better hiding place eventually. They had only chosen this spot because the Door Station was right next to it, so it eliminated the chance of them being seen carrying dead doors around the hallways for no discernible reason. Maybe Sulley should just install a Door Station in his office.

Getting Louise's door into place proved a bit trickier than he had anticipated; he had allowed himself to be deceived by the ease with which Sulley usually handled these things. But of course, his friend was at least ten times stronger than he was. Still, at least Louise's door was not in splinters like Boo's was, so in the end, he managed somehow.

With the press of a button, he activated the station, but then hesitated in front of the door. What if she did not want to see him? What if he disturbed her by returning?

Well, there was only one way to find out.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open and entered the room.

His eye was quicker to adjust to the darkness in the mornings, when the light level of Monstropolis was not too bright yet, and this was no exception. Already, he could make out Jeremy's silhouette on the bed, and the sound of his soft breathing was unmistakable. The boy was asleep.

That actually reassured him a bit. He wanted to talk to Louise before getting Jeremy's hopes up about a continuation of the Comedy visits.

He noticed a bit of light seeping into the room from the door in the opposite wall, but not enough for it to be bright in the hallway. If he wanted to find her, he had to get out of the bedroom and look for her, and he was immensely surprised at the amount of sheer apprehension he felt at the prospect. Yes, wandering a human house was completely new territory for him, but after being out in the woods during that incident at the camp, one would think it was manageable, right?

Carefully tip-toeing past Jeremy's bed, he slowly opened the door and slipped through it. The light lead him to the farther end of the hallway, and with that being as good an option as anything, he followed it.

At least the house layout had been properly sketched in Jeremy's file, so he knew that what he was approaching was the kitchen, and that was where the faint light came from. The door was slightly ajar, and, carefully peering around the corner, he saw her.

She was standing at the kitchen sink, bathed in the soft glow of the small lamp above the counter top, holding a glass of water in one hand. She had a bathrobe wrapped around her nightgown and was staring out of the window, presumably at the stars. By human standards, she was probably rather young; not that he knew enough human adults to judge by her appearance, but with the mathematics involved, she must be somewhere around twenty years old.

He was a bit curious as to why she was up at this hour, but at least she was awake. There was no one with her, and the rest of the house appeared quiet as well. This was a chance, and he could not afford to waste it. If he did not talk to her _now_, he would never find the nerve; of that, he was sure.

When he pushed the door to open it all the way, it gave a little creak, and immediately, she turned around in exasperation, heaving a sigh. "Look, Jemy, I _know_ you're not tired yet, but…" However, she trailed off when she spotted him.

Much like their first - well, second - meeting a few days ago, there was a moment of eye contact. He looked up at her, quietly, but then could not take it any longer and averted his gaze. Somehow, he had no idea what to say. Which was saying something, he supposed.

But he did hear the smile in her voice when she placed her glass onto the counter top and then crossed the short distance between them. "Well, hello there! Didn't expect you back here! And it's not that I object, but I'm curious – why'd you change your mind?"

That was a legitimate question, he supposed. "Well, I, I… I checked with… the higher-ups…" Of course, he had not done any such thing, but only because he knew Sulley did not object; explaining that to her would be too complicated, though. He gulped and, as he was well aware, started rambling. "And we figured that, if you do promise to keep quiet about me and… if we take, well, special precautions to, you know, make sure no one's here when I arrive, there really shouldn't be anything stopping me from, from, well… visiting… on occasion."

When he dared look up at her again, he saw her leaning over him in a non-threatening sort of way, and her face had lit up as if illuminated by a spotlight. "You mean that?"

He held up his hands in some sort of defensive gesture. "But I had to promise to never take you to the other side! That is absolutely impossible! You can't go, and neither can Jeremy." Actually, as with the "checking with the higher-ups," he had never promised that, but there had been no need; he planned on being extremely careful about these visits, and he knew Sulley was aware of that.

She smirked at his awkward fumbling. "That's fine. C'mon, have a seat. You want tea or something?"

The mere thought of drinking tea with a human, an _adult_ human, possibly accompanied by a pleasant chat or something, felt way too weird to him. Yeah, Boo occasionally had him and Sulley participate in fake tea parties, but that was different. He ended up blinking at her a few times. "Er, thanks, but I'm not sure I can tolerate anything human. Let's not push our luck here."

But he did sit down on one of the chairs as she had said and was silent for a moment while she went to fetch her glass and settle down on the other side of the table. When he looked around the room in curiosity, his gaze fell onto a picture pinned to the fridge, obviously one of him and Jeremy. It actually spoke of more talent than a two year old usually possessed. Looked like the boy really did enjoy his visits as much as his mother said. "You know, I'm curious, too," he heard himself tell her. "Why _were_ you so adamant about me continuing the visits?"

Facing her again, he saw her shrug. "I'm not sure. I think it's just cool actually getting to know my imaginary friend."

A smile snuck its way onto his face. "I suppose so. But I really was trying to scare you that day, I wasn't kidding about that. I just wasn't… you know, exactly good at it." That probably counted as understatement of the century, as he knew these days, but there was no point in dwelling on the topic.

"Then why did you try at all?" she asked, sounding confused, and it was another legitimate question. "You're obviously better at making someone laugh than making them cry."

"Scream," Mike corrected almost automatically. "And boy, is _that_ a long story if I've ever heard one." How much could he tell her? But she had promised to keep quiet about him, so she would not relay any of his _words_ to anyone else either, right?

She smirked again, placing her chin onto her folded hands. "I'm not going anywhere," she quipped.

He decided that he liked her sense of humor, but it did little to help him make a decision. And somehow, she seemed to catch on to that, because now she started frowning. "I think I made it clear that I wouldn't go to the press with this," she pointed out, calmly, but it did imply a criticism.

Her wording caused him to give a nervous chuckle. "I'm not sure where to start." Why _was_ he even nervous?

"Most people favor the beginning for that," she deadpanned, crossing her arms. "In all seriousness, though, what interests me most is _why_ you come to Jeremy's room all the time. For the kicks or something?"

It was probably as good a starting point as any. "Err, well…" It was not as if she would be the first human to know. They had explained the basics to Boo as soon as she had turned old enough to have a proper conversation with them. "I have to," he finally replied. "It's our way of collecting energy."

"Energy?" she repeated, laughing a little. "Are you kidding me?"

He felt himself relax a bit at her light-hearted curiosity. "Is that any more unlikely than a monster living in your son's closet?"

She furrowed her brows in confusion. "You don't actually live _in_ the closet, though, right? I mean, you'd think I'd have noticed you by now."

Now it was his turn to laugh, and he noted that she seemed pleased with his reaction. Somehow, this was starting to feel natural. As if he was just talking to a friend. He should probably have realized this a lot sooner after dealing with human kids for years now, but humans were really just people, the same way monsters were, right? "No, I don't live _in_ the closet, but it's my way of getting to your world."

"Our world?" A look of comprehension took over her features. "You mean there's another one? The one you come from? What's it like?"

"…it's a beautiful place," he said quietly. And it was. "I think it's not _that_ different from yours, at least judging by all the rooms I've seen by now, but…"

"You visit _more_ children than just Jemy and me?" she exclaimed, before apparently thinking of something. "Does your friend do that, too? What'd you call him…"

"Sulley," he provided. "And no, he doesn't. He used to be a Scarer, but not anymore. Not since Boo." He knew that implied a question, so he answered it before she could ask. "Mary, actually. She's about… I don't really know, six years old, maybe. I should probably ask her." He briefly chuckled to himself. "Anyway, she got to our world by accident a few years ago and she was the one who made us realize that Laughter was roughly about ten times more powerful than Scream."

She seemed attentive, as if she liked hearing him tell stories. "If you say 'by accident,' you mean that no human has been to your world before, right? At least it sounds like it."

He was about to tell her the story, actually eager to share it, but with a start, he remembered his situation. If he stayed too long, people were going to miss him soon and start asking questions, and in the worst case, not only would _these_ visits be over, he would even jeopardize Sulley's chances of seeing Boo.

He had gotten too comfortable. But this just felt too nice. Like meeting a long-lost friend that he had never known he had. Deep down, he found himself wishing that he could just tell everyone the truth about the humans, that the CDA could stop protecting the two worlds from each other.

Of course, he knew it would never work that way, but at least right here, right now, he could make a difference. Did he still have the time to tell her? He caught sight of a clock hanging on the opposite wall and, quickly calculating the time difference, found that he did.

"You're right, that's never happened before," he confirmed. "Or after. Add to that the fact that, back then, all monsters were convinced that a human's touch was toxic to us, and most of us still do…"

"Oh, boy." She smirked. "Must have been quite the commotion."

She probably had no idea just how close that was to the truth, in more than one way.

"Well," he started the story, leaning back in the chair a bit to get comfortable, "that's a matter of perspective, I suppose."


End file.
